L'isola di Cipro nell'anno della caduta di Costantinopoli

Abstract

During the XIVth century, the Isle of Cyprus occupied a privileged position, mainly after the fall of the last Roman cities of the Holy Land. The island became a centre of international commerce. During the XVth century, on the contrary, a change in commercial routes provoked a less brilliant situation. We can find the reason of this decline in the change of the political framework that takes place in the Middle West and Orient. The aim of this essay -based on 39 unedited notarial acts, mainly redacted in Famagosta, by a lawyer from Genoa- is to analyze the demographical and economic structure of Famagosta in 1453, when Constantinople fell in the hands of the Turks. It is in fact a very dense moment of changes that profoundly transformed the history of Europe. We analyze in this study the situation of arts and crafts, the different profes­sions of the Ligures and the emigrants of the Greek basin, the wide camp of construction and public charges of the administrations of Genoa. We should also stress the attention on the religious situation: in fact, in this island, greco-orthodox, latin and hebrew traditions live together. W e also underline, in this article, the framework of the organisation of the daily familiar life and, by and large, the whole Cyprus socio-institutional panorama, just at the moment when the Greek Empire disappeared.